Still Standing Outtakes
by rhosinthorn
Summary: Chapters that were significantly altered for the final version of Still Standing will have the unedited chapters here.
1. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve:**

Standing at the infirmary door, Laxus paused before going in. Since Lucy had woken up, he had tried to stay away from the blonde unless Mira had ordered him to deal with her latest bout of insolence. She had developed the uncanny ability to pinpoint a person's weak spots and target them with words carefully chosen for maximum damage. Even Mira had been reduced to tears at one point during the two weeks the blonde had been awake. It had taken Freed two hours to talk the woman out of stress baking in the guild's kitchens. Laxus hadn't seen Mira that broken since she thought that Lisanna had died.

He had a few things he wanted to say to the demon himself about how she manipulated him into letting Lucy move in with him. First, he was a bachelor. Even though he had shared a place with the Raijinshu after the Tenrou incident, most of his living had been done at the guild, with his room merely being a place to shower and sleep. Getting his own house was supposed to give him a place where he could go back to at the end of the day and _not_ have to deal with other people. Locking him and Lucy in the house defeated the purpose of that.

Second, Lucy was a _girl_. Laxus admittedly didn't know very many girls outside of a few flings he had before the Fantasia incident, but from his dealings with Ever, most girls didn't like sharing space with guys. When Ever had moved in with the Raijinshu after the dissolution of the guild and Fairy Hills closing down, she had set _very_ clear boundary rules about her space and privacy. She also had terrorized him and Bickslow into giving in about being fully covered at all times. Given some of the stories he had heard Lucy telling Mira and the others when he went to the bar for something, Laxus could only guess that Lucy was similar to Ever in her requirements for personal space. At least the guest bedroom had its own bathroom.

The third problem was that Lucy hated him. While her words were harsh to everyone, she seemed to be particularly venomous when it came to him. So far he had limited his contact with her, because he didn't want her to know that she was his weak spot.

Exile, training under his grandfather, training on his own…none of it had prepared him for this. The day that she had almost died, he felt as if he was inhaling the ethernano again, trying desperately to save everyone. But this time, the poison was of his own creation, making it the worst of all. He had nearly killed a member of his own guild. Laxus knew that some of the others noticed, but he did his best to hide the fact that he wasn't sleeping well, and wasn't eating much either.

Taking a deep breath, he summoned his old mask of indifference and opened the door to the infirmary, avoiding the pillow which was on the floor. Lucy had obviously already tried to throw it at someone that morning. He had told whoever was looking after her at any given moment to leave it where she had thrown it until she was going to sleep. They had enough to deal with when it came to her without having to dodge flying objects. As he came into view of the bed, he saw that her breakfast plate was overturned on the floor, bits of food scattered around it. Sighing, he looked at the blonde in the bed. "If it were up to me, I'd make you pick that up."

She glared defiantly back at him. "Try it," she baited him, ignoring Mira who was trying to finish pulling her long hair back into a ponytail, her face set in a grimace. "I won't."

"You're right," he said indifferently, crossing his arms against his chest. "But only because you're not allowed to walk much yet. If you were, you'd be picking it up. As it is, I'm seriously considering not letting you eat every time you throw your food on the ground."

"Wendy wouldn't let you do that," Lucy snapped with a toss of her head. "She keeps nagging at me because I'm not eating."

"If it became an issue, we could just feed you like a child," he suggested, seeing the way her fists clenched in the sheets. "But I'm not here to discuss your eating habits."

"So, am I going to be hauled out and executed?" Lucy said nonchalantly, gesturing to Mira doing her hair. "I was given real food today and they put clothes on me and now they're doing my hair. Seems as if you guys are setting up to do away with me."

He snorted. "If we were going to kill you, we wouldn't have saved you in the first place."

"Then what's the big occasion? Going to make me sign another contract?"

That stung, but Laxus kept control of his face as he replied: "Wendy and Porlyusica have told me that the next step in your recovery needs to take place somewhere that _isn't_ the guild. Since you were living in the storage room before you moved to the infirmary, we've decided to place you with a guild member."

"And who's the lucky winner?" Lucy asked sarcastically as Mira finished with her hair.

"Me," he said coolly.

"No," Lucy announced flatly. "I refuse. I'll go back to my room here at the guild, thank you very much."

"You don't get an opinion in this. Your things from the storage room have already been packed and are waiting at my house. And what part of you needing to get out of the guild hall didn't you understand?"

"I refuse to live with _you_ ," Lucy spat, eyes filled with rage. "Send me to Mira, send me to Ever, hell, send me to _Flare Corona_ , but I refuse to go with you."

"Mira doesn't have the space for you, although she could make time. Ever and the Raijinshu have the space, but not the time. And we're not sending you away from the guild. You don't have a choice in this matter, and even if you did, your options would be limited. For two weeks you've been throwing tantrums worse than Asuka ever did. People are tired of your crappy attitude."

"Well I'm _sorry_ that I'm finding it a bit hard to readjust to the idea that I have a future again," she snapped. "Maybe if you hadn't taken my only family away from me I would be adapting better."

Laxus growled. "You know why you can't have your keys. And you have plenty of people downstairs that would be willing to help you if you would just stop acting like a two year old."

"I don't want anyone's damn _pity_ ," Lucy bit off the words as if she was trying to keep herself from completely losing control. "I didn't ask for your help. You've just managed to make a bigger mess. So go away and let me stay here."

"No," he snapped, and looked at Mira. "Is Levy at the house?"

The woman nodded, her lips pursed as she looked at the blonde mage sitting in the bed. "She brought a stack of paperwork for you to work on as well, and said that she's stay until the afternoon. You aren't expected back until tomorrow, when Lisanna will come over. Levy should have the schedule."

"Good," he grunted before turning back to the bed. "Lucy, I'm warning you, if you hit me right now, you're going to regret it."

He saw her open her mouth for a biting remark, but before she could say anything, he swooped her up and lightning travelled out of the room.

 *****So, this is the original Chapter 12. You'll find that the plot remains almost exactly the same, although the content varies. I've had a lot of people ask me for a copy of this, so I'm going to just post it up in its own story. If you guys want to see 13 as well, I'll post it here too.*****


	2. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen:**

When he landed on the grass in front of his front porch, Laxus was unprepared for the fist that hit his jaw. Looking down, he saw a furious Lucy trying to push him away.

"Get off me you…" she swore at him, and Laxus looked at Levy, who had just come out of the house. The bluenette had moved beyond her initial shock of hearing Lucy swear worse than a sailor and even chuckled at the creative usage the blonde employed. Shrugging, he climbed the steps to the front porch and moved inside.

Yesterday, he had come home to find that Ever and Levy had filled his fridge with food and taped a sheet of recommended meals to the counter, courtesy of Wendy. Recipes were stacked next to the list of ideas, and Laxus wondered if they thought him incapable of cooking. It wasn't that he _couldn't_ , he just chose not to.

By far though, the biggest changes were in his empty spare room. Laxus had placed an order for a twin bed, but the two women had overseen the delivery and made the bed. He had grimaced when he saw the pink coverlet they had chosen, but Levy had sworn that it was Lucy's favorite color, and Ever had said that the coverlet she had to throw out from Lucy's room was pink as well. When he had ordered the bed, he had also gotten a dresser and a desk as Levy had requested. Since he didn't see any suitcases in the room, he assumed that the girls had put her clothes away. Several books sat on the desk, and a few more rested next to the bed within easy reach.

Reaching the bed, Laxus set Lucy on top of it, ducking her fist as she swung at him again and backed away. Levy had followed them inside, and hovered in the doorway.

"Take me back to the guild," Lucy hissed, looking at Levy and ignoring Laxus. "I don't want to be here."

"I'm sorry Lu-chan," Levy said, wringing her hands. "Everyone agreed that this is the best place for you."

"Why not you?" Lucy asked, glaring at Laxus. "Why does it have to be him?"

"Lu-chan, I'm living on Gajeel's couch," Levy said softly. "Remember? I told you when I came back."

"Still on his couch?" Lucy asked acidly, her attention switching to the small girl. "Maybe I was wrong and he just thinks of you as a friend if you haven't been invited to his bed yet."

Levy ran out of the room, and he didn't have to smell the salt to know that she was crying. Turning back to the blonde on the bed, he pulled the desk chair over and sat down. "You're really being an asshole, you know that?" he said bluntly. He was tired of listening to her harass her friends when they were only trying to help.

"You would know more about being an asshole to people than me," she snapped, crossing her arms as she glared at him. "And don't tell me I shouldn't hurt them, because that's downright _hypocritical_."

"At least I've tried to _stop_ hurting them," he snapped, knowing that he was rising to her bait. "And they're just trying to apologize."

"What if I don't want their damn apologies," Lucy said coldly. "What if I just want to be left alone?"

Laxus sighed. "You know we can't do that. At least while you're here you don't have to have someone in the room with you at all times. So stop complaining and acting like a child."

"I'll stop complaining if you take me back to the guild," Lucy insisted stubbornly.

"Nobody else has the room to take you," Laxus said. "And quite frankly, nobody else has the emotional strength to deal with your bullshit."

Lucy bristled. "I gave you a year and a half of my life. I think that entitles me to a right to bullshit."

"Nobody asked you to sign the bloody contract," Laxus snapped. "It was _your_ choice."

"The first time," she hissed. "And I didn't see you caring about how much I gave up then. Especially since I was asked to sign the damn thing _again_."

Sighing, Laxus fought against the urge to react. He knew that's what she wanted from him, wanted him to cry and run away like Levy, or get angry and storm out like Mira. But if he gave in to her, she would keep pushing and pushing until he gave up and gave in.

"Lucy," he said, glad to hear that his voice was stern and not angry. "I know that things haven't been easy for you since Tartarus. But your guild just wants to help you, and so do I. You may not like the way we're going about things, but right now it's the only way we have. Just remember, we're not your enemies."

"What would you know about my last year and a half?" she spat, and he was amazed to see tears forming in her eyes. So far as he knew, Lucy hadn't _cried_ since she woke up. "You weren't around for most of it! Nobody was, except my spirits, and you've taken them away from me!"

Laxus fidgeted slightly in his seat, thinking his words over before he said: "When you were unconscious, I gave Freed permission to search your room for anything that might tell us what happened."

She stared at him, her face as pale as it had been when she was bleeding out in his arms. "You _didn't_ …"

Guilt burned in the pit of his stomach, but he kept his face blank as he said: "We didn't know what was going on. I promise you that only the Raijinshu read anything Freed found. Most of it was the contract, the records you kept of job payments, but…"

"You read my _letters_ , didn't you?" she hissed, grabbing one of the books on her bedside table and throwing it weakly at him. Her aim was still bad, and he noticed that her arms were trembling. _That must be the damage that Porlyusica and Wendy had meant when they told me she would have to undergo rehab_.

"Not saying anything is as good as admitting your guilt," she said tartly, and Laxus put aside his examination of her physical condition and returned to her anger."

"Yes, I read the letters. Ever read them first, and brought them to Freed's attention. He was the one who brought them to me. Lucy, we didn't want to invade your privacy, but there was no other option at the time. We _had_ to know what was going on."

"Well, now you know," she said icily, reaching for another book. "Now you know everything that I went through."

 _Should I tell her everything?_ Laxus wondered, watching her struggle to pick up the heavy book. _She might think that we never found it, which would cause problems later on…_ Knowing that it was better to tell her now before she could actually hit him with the book, he sighed. "You know as well as I do that the letters don't tell me anything." They were mainly to her mother, with a few to the missing members of her team mixed in. But she never wrote anything serious in them, just sanitized accounts, as if she was trying to keep the receiver from worrying.

" _No,_ " she breathed, and he could smell the salt from her tears even though she tipped her face downwards so he couldn't see them. "Please tell me that you didn't…"

"Lucy, we had no _choice_." Laxus knew the protest was weak. What he had done could in a way be compared to his father implanting the lacrima in him. "You were lying in that bed and none of us knew what put you there. I did my best to keep as much from the others as possible. Ever found it, realized what it was, and gave it to Freed, who read it and then told me that I needed to read it."

" _Get out_ ," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "You invaded my privacy enough when you read my book."

Knowing that he couldn't do anything for her, Laxus checked the room to make sure that there was nothing in there that she could use to hurt herself with, and left.

Levy was sitting on his front porch, her mouth in a determined line as she looked out towards the trees. As he came up behind her, she said quietly: "He's making me choose what I'm comfortable with. That's why I'm still on the couch, even though I know he wouldn't mind if…"

"You don't need to justify yourself to me," he said quickly, not wanting the girl to feel as if she had to explain the nature of her relationship with Gajeel. "As long as nobody's being hurt, you don't need to tell me anything you're not comfortable with."

"What made her like this?" Levy asked, playing absently with her hair. "Lu-chan was rarely ever sad."

"She's not exactly sad…" Laxus said, trying to decide how best to explain. "Her year was rougher than any of us could have ever imagined if the information I have is correct. I suppose the best description of her…bitter. Lucy's struggling with bitterness. Levy, who stayed behind with Lucy during that year? Who did she see and who did she talk to?"

"As far as I know, she was here all by herself," Levy said slowly. "I think she said once that some people came by from time to time. When she mentioned it, I remember thinking that she must have been terribly lonely. Is that why she's angry?"

"Partially," Laxus allowed. "The Raijinshu appeared every six weeks or so, and she wrote to Erza and Wendy regularly. I assume you know that Grey disappeared, and Natsu left her a letter?"

"Grey left right around the time you did," Levy said immediately. "And I ran into Lu-chan while she was looking for Natsu. Erza left with Doranbolt to help settle the Magic Counciland leave Wendy at Lamia Scale. Lu-chan was really sad when she said goodbye to all of us. I wouldn't blame her if she was angry with us. If we had stayed, she wouldn't have had to deal with everything on her own."

"It's more than that though…I can't really explain because the only information I have is hearsay, but I don't think that she's actually truly angry with most people. She seems to understand that everyone had to leave back then."

"You said most people," Levy said, looking at him as he leaned against the railing of his porch. "That means she's angry with someone."

"You're looking right at him," he said quietly. "Of all of us, I betrayed her the most."

"Sure, you could have asked about the contract details," Levy began, but Laxus brushed her words aside.

"It's more than that. But Gajeel's here now, so you should get back to the guild. I'll call if we need anything."

"Okay Laxus-san," Levy said, smiling as Gajeel appeared on the path leading to the house. "Good luck with her. But you're the only one who's been able to go blow for blow with her since then."

"Thanks Levy," he said, watching her run out to meet the other dragon slayer. "I'm going to need it."


End file.
